Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1887-01-28
OCEANS OF SWEETS.
WHERE TONS OF CANDIES ARE MADE
DAILY FOR DAINTY PALATtS.
VISIT TO A FACTORY WHERE DEFT
FINGERS OF PRETTY GIRLS PILE
UP HILLS or BON BONs AND
MOUNTAINS OF CHOCOLATE
GRINDING THE COCOA BEAN.
New York star

New York star
With fear and trembling, and a
heart surcharged with anxiety lest
somebody should see him, re-
porter made his way into a candy
factory the other day. He took a
slim legged dude along with him to
swear to an alibl in case Of need.
A door opened and shut, and the
visitors found themselves in room
which at first sight might have
been taken for a machine shop
/ Ponderous wheels rcvolved noise
lessly, aud upon every side great
engines stretched and drew back
their steed arms, engaged upon
some unknown but titanic task
/ The odOr of chocolate was well
nigh overpOwering. The reporter
stepped forward to an enormous
bowl of polished copper and gazed
into its depths. A strange sight
greeted his eyes. Within the in
terror of this great copper vessel
revolved two large mill stones,
while a steel rake like implement,
constantly in motion, directed a
river of rich brown chocolate so
that it flowed steadily under the
wheels. 1t was extraordinary how
this mighty torrent twisted in and
out-a great writhing boa con-
srtricto struggling to escape.
"That is the grinder" remarked
the superintendent. "That stuff
in there is simply the crushed cocoa
bean and sugar. 1t looks SENT
liquid, of course, but that is be-
cause of the essential oil of the
bean"
Near the grinder stood machine
something like a great coffee mill.
The cocoa beans in their entirety
were turned into a hopper AT the
top and issued in the form OF a
liquid into a large vat beneath.
Chocolate making is rather a
complicated process. The beans are
first placed in a separator, which
dries and asserts them. Next they
are roasted. Machine No. 3 cracks
them, cleans them, throws out the
shells and the germ, and, preserves
the kernel. After this the kernels
are ground with sugar; the halt
made chocolate heated in an oven,
then passed through three finishing
machines, and finally comes into
the hands Of pretty young girls
who wrap it in silver foil and box
it.
Ina small room well lighted anC
ventilated and scrupulOusly clear
AS, indeed, was the entire factory
five men were at work. They
looked like a band of Brazilian
planters who had been lifted NJ
bodily and set down in the middle
Of Canadian snow storm. The,
were clothed from head to foot il
spotless cOtton-cOttOn coats, cot
ton aprons, cotton trousers, cottol
blOuses and cotton caps. \ whit
powder drifting through the apart
ment had settled on their mus
taches and faces, to say nothing 0
their clothing. This powder wa
corn starch. Over huge cope
cauldron, heated beneath by col
of sinuous steam pipes leaned on
of these queer white figures. Il
his hand he held gigantic spoon
and every now and then he stirrel
the contents of the great vessC
, vigorously.
b The reporter peered over tn
r brink and saw a mass of snO'
white substance about the cOnsls
, tency of buttermllk.
"Try some ?" queried the super
Intendent, as he thrusts a ladle IN
, to the vat.
1t was marhmallow, but sue
marshmallow 1t took two ladlC
= fuls to quiet the dude, and eve
then he looked lOngingly at TN
r copper as the party turned away.
Through narrow passagewa
past a curious machine which hnsl
ed almonds and blanched them a
the rate of 10000 a minute, an
through a swinging door into fairy
r land. At four long tables sat fort
girls, and every one OF the fort
; was young and pretty, and ever
9 one of them wore natty little apro
and q bewitching little white mu
cap. 1t fairly took the dudes bleat
, away. Each girl was armed wit
a plated spoon with a long handle
: and i'm front of each stood n tin
gas stove surmOunted by a tin
| copper kettle. The kettles shon
. brightly and so did the faces Of I'll
girls as they glanced up from the
l work. Each little can was abOI
- half full of cOlored paste. One q
had green paste, colored with pi
tachio nuts; the next, paste of
+. violet hue; and besides, there wei
: crushed strawberry paste, Sc
brown paste, sky blue paste, yello
paste, and paste of every other II
aginable shade. The walls Of th